This invention relates to a band retaining unit which releasably locks a retaining band thereon, so that the user can manually adjust the retaining band and tauten the portion of the retaining band between two articles, which are respectively fastened to the band retaining unit and the retaining band, more particularly to a band retaining unit having a multi-lock effect.
Usually a canvas is used to cover a freight container and fastened to the same by a plurality of bands and band retaining units. Referring to FIGS. 1, 2, a conventional band retaining unit of this kind includes a female retaining body 11, a male retaining body 12 connected rotatably to the female retaining body 11 by a pivot 121, a gripping element 13, and a spring element 14. The female retaining body 11 is riveted to a canvas 71 (see FIG. 3). The female retaining body 11 includes a base wall with two holes 111, 112, and two side walls, each of which has a gripping notch 113 and a rope hole 114. The male retaining body 12 includes two side walls, each of which has a slide slot 122 aligned with the gripping notches 113, and a depression 123 aligned with the rope holes 114. The gripping element 13 includes two engagement arms 130 inserted slidably into the slide slots 122 of the male retaining body 12. A generally triangular gap 131 is defined between the engagement arms 130 of the gripping element 13. A connector 132 interconnects the engagement arms 130 of the gripping element 13 so as to prevent deformation of the engagement arms 130. The spring element 14 biases the engagement arms 130 of the gripping element 13 to engage within the gripping notches 113 of the female retaining body 11, so as to prevent separation of the male retaining body 12 from the female retaining body 11, thereby clamping tightly a retaining band 15 between the female retaining body 11 and the male retaining body 12. The retaining body 15 is fastened to a retaining hook 151 at an end thereof, which is held on the rail 72 (see FIG. 3) of a freight container 7 (see FIG. 3). A rope 8 (see FIG. 3) is passed through the rope holes 114 of the female retaining body 11 and into the depressions 123 of the male retaining body 12, so as to confine the male retaining body 12 between the female retaining body 11 and the rope 8, thereby ensuring the engagement of the free end of the male retaining body 12 within the free end of the female retaining body 11. When the rope 8 is removed from the rope hole 114 and the engagement arms 130 of the gripping element 13 are removed from the gripping notches 113, the male retaining body 12 can be rotated to disengage the free end of the male retaining body 12 from the free end of the female retaining body 11, so that the retaining body 15 can be adjusted, thereby enabling the portion of the retaining band 15 between the band retaining unit and the retaining hook 151 to be tautened. The engagement of the arms 130 within the notches 113 and the extension of the rope 8 through the rope holes 114 form a double lock of the male retaining body 12 on the female retaining body 11. In practice, however, this double lock is dissatisfactory.